This book changed the way I look at a coffee table. It changed the way I look at fonts. It must be read, browsed and left out for others to browse. Leave it in the bathroom and see what happens. You will learn much about your guests as they sit on the pot

"My Life In and Out of Baseball" was written in 1966 or thereabouts - while Willie was still active.

For the most part, the tone rings honestly, and so I do believe that Willie played an active role in the writing of his autobiography with Charles Einstein - which can't be said for all athlete biographies, of course.

This was written before Jim Bouton's "Ball Four", when it first became customary for ballplayer autobiographies to compete with each other by showing as much of the game's dirty linen as possible. So there are no sensational revelations here.

But this is a good snapshot of the era in which Willie played, as he experienced it at the time.

A very lyrical phrase which begins "I remember the clouds" opens the first chapter of this book which takes place in the 9th inning of the New York Giants' deciding 1951 playoff game against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In this inning, responding to a heartfelt plea from manager Leo Durocher, the Giants would cap a season marked by a miraculous comeback from 13 1/2 games out and stage an incredible 4-run rally in the bottom of the 9th inning to steal the pennant from Brooklyn - capped off, of course, by Bobby Thomson's famous 3-run homer, hit while Willie, a 20 year old rookie in 1951, was nervously waiting his turn in the on-deck circle.

When the book shifts to the last game of the 1962 playoffs between the Giants and Dodgers (both since transplanted to the West Coast), Willie or Einstein or both cleverly start that chapter with the same lyrical phrase that begins with, "I remember the clouds..."

The Giants, of course, are about to repeat history by staging another last-ditch comeback to win, though it will be with less melodrama than that which took place in 1951, and in view of this, the authors recite where some of the participants from 1951 are on this occasion in 1962.

"Durocher?" Willie asks rhetorically. "He was in the Dodger dugout as a coach. But I knew he remembered. I knew he remembered." Yes, one expects that Durocher must have remembered; must have awaited the start of the 9th inning with trepidation; and must have been the least surprised man on the field or in the dugout at the outcome.

On this occasion, of course, Willie is not a mere spectator, but on this occasion, eleven years later, he's no longer a nervous rookie but an established star who wants to be up there with the game on the line, and his single off of Ed Roebuck's leg fanned the flames of the rally.

For the most part, it's over the head of the Giants organization that the clouds have hung, but one must be grateful to Mays and Einstein for portraying - and in such poetic fashion - two occasions where the clouds hung over the heads of their opponents instead.

Say Hey!

Willie Pearl lives with her family in the coal fields of Kentucky. The story is written by Willie Pearl's daughter, and is a great story of family unity and perserverence for children. When Willie Pearl finds herself in a difficult situation, she remembers her brother's advice: "One foot in front of another and keep moving."

This is a very good book that will probably rank second only to Ted Morgan's,"Maugham" as the difinitive biography on the writer who was popular beyond imagination in a world where writers were the Stephen Spielbergs of the world. Maugham was perhaps only the third English writer after Dickens, and Kipling to make a fortune on writing alone. (With a little help from the stock market)This is a book that would have been much better if it could have been longer. The subject was so complicated and had such a variety of experiences. The writer obviously has a great deal of love for his subject, so it must have been the publisher and editor who kept it at 398 pages. Maugham was a Doctor, Ambulance Driver on the Western Front, Spy, Propagandist, Novelist, Short Story writer, Playwright with 4 plays running at once at the West End in London, and much more. The author is critical of Ted Morgan's Bio on the great subject for being unsympathetic of personal side of Maugham. This is a pleasure to read for any true Maugham fan or world traveller.

Cool as far as it goes, but any book calling itself "Prison Masculinities" that purports to reflect homosexuality, and fails to mention an American artist-genius of prison culture, David Hurles, goes only "skim" deep. As gay-aware as this book is, there should be mention of the pioneering audio-recordings, films, photographs and videos of David Hurles, the sociological artist of cons and ex-cons--and the men who love them. Hurles, even before his work began to appear in print in the "prison masculinity" of "Drummer" magazine in the 1970s, cuts way deeper than theorist Foucault with actual primary material that these editors should have addressed. The French love the declaratory, revealing, documentary work of David Hurles who has lived the life as "Old Reliable Studios" in Los Angeles, picking up the mantle of an earlier icon of cons and excons, Bob Mizer, Athletic Model Guild. Hurles revealed that there is one truth of prison masculinity universally taught: "Gay men are easy marks for ex-cons. There is always money, shelter, and sex." I know a book always has limitations, but apparently not enough research went deep enough in this book (or was politically checked by p.c. censorship)to get at the gay core of what prison masculinities really are in the actual lives of masculine gay men living in gay culture. I would hope that a second edition, or a second volume, could correct this flaw in an otherwise well-intentioned study that could have had valid sales in Gay Studies curricula.

Sabo, Kupers and London in their new book Prison Masculinities offer a fresh and probing examination of not only what is wrong with our approach to prisons and prisoners in this country, but the prevailing mentalities and attitudes that actually foster violence both inside and outside prisons. Prison Masculinities offers the reader new insights into historic and current notions of "manhood" and how those notions have dehumanized prisoners and driven the ill-conceived "get tough with criminals" political philosophy that has all but eliminated serious efforts at rehabilitation of inmates. The book is particularly valuable in that it offers a broad range of material from academics, prison reform activists, and inmates who are passionate and brutally honest about this subject. Eminently readable, the content itself is painful to consider, because it chronicles our penchant as a society to revert to harsh measures that don't work because we're more comfortable with vengeance than compassion, because we associate vengeance with "manliness" and compassion with weakness. For those who seek to grapple with why our approach to crime and punishment is a failure, they need look no further than Prison Masculinities.

Many books have been written by, about and for prisoners, but rarely do they have the scope and power of Prison Masculinities. By including poems, essays, and stories from a wide range of individuals involved in the criminal justice system, Kupers, Sabo and London create a dialogue about prisons that examines the often devstating effect of hegemonic notions of manhood. The feminist movement of the 1970's introduced a vocabulary to describe the pitfalls of gender stereotypes in relation to women, in particular, but it also introduced a criticism of normative male gender stereotypes as well. Prison Masculinities incorporates this gender theory, queer theory, and other post-modern thinking to engage the discussion of the effect of "manhood" on inmates before, after, and during their incarceration. The book traces the definition of manhood back to the origin of our country, when masculinity was defined in terms of autonomy and self-control. It then introduces the different incarcations this definition takes in communities where such self-control is often impossible due to poverty, race, and substance abuse. It then follows these men, whose relationship with prevailing notions of masculinity are already fraught with economic and social limitations, into prison, which was created to emasculate and disempower. Prison Masculinities then traces the effects of masculinity on all aspects of inmates' lives, relating it to race, health, sexuality, prison programs, law and male friendships. The book is both thorough and unrelenting. Rarely are so many viewpoints, and opinions gathered in one place to create such a unified voice, all demanding that we undertake a radical re-thinking of our ideas of what it means to be a man, not only for inmates and ex-offenders, but for all men.

I found this book to be of little help in translating Indonesian newspaper articles etc. There are just too many everyday words that are not covered. This is not excused by its being a "concise" dictionary, as it includes a good number of really fairly obscure words.

I've been making fairly heavy use of this dictionary and find it indispensible. While there are some words missing (the most surprising being "tanpa", without!), it's quite complete for its size and price. You do need to know the root form of verbs to look some of them up, which requires a little knowledge of the language, but all in all it's a great buy.

Unfortunately Echols and Shadilly's two volume Indonesian dictionary is a little too bulky to carry when back-packing in Indonesia. On my first two visits to Indonesia I took the MIP Concise Indonesian Dictionary, which fits comfortably into a pocket, and it never really left my person. While I really like this dictionary (and will probably buy a copy of the new edition), with about 4000 entries in each section its limitations were always fairly obvious. For my most recent trip I bought a copy of Tuttle's Concise Indonesian Dictionary. With more than twice as many entries as the smaller dictionary, I expected this to be pretty solid. Most of the time it was, but there were a few problems: some words I expected to find - "swap" is one, "retribusi" is another - weren't included (though there is a somewhat obscure entry for "tank steamer"); there is an entry for "polemics" rather than for "polemic"; and explanation of meanings is limited, creating problems with polysemic words which even reverse lookup often fails to resolve. On the plus side, Tuttle's Dictionary just fitted into my trouser pocket, and its sturdy plastic cover is a godsend given the wear and tear of travel.

I first read this book when it was originally published, more years ago than I like to admit. I recently found it in a buck a book bin on Cape Cod and thought it just might be worth it. And it was. I'm not sure if the book recreated that time and place in American sports history or if it simply helped bring it back to my memory. Either way, whether you loved him or hated him, it does capture the vintage Namath and a feel for the changes happening in football at that time. Easily worth twice what I paid for it.

Anyone used to reading the celebrity/athlete written books that clog up the best seller lists today cannot appreciate the stir that Joe Namath's book creathed when it was first published. Joe Namath was a sports figure like no other, flamboyant, handsome, quick with a comeback, a girl on each arm, loved by women of all ages, admired by men, and quick to give credit to those who helped him to fame...coaches, his mother and family, men of the church. Joe never took life too seriously, but was not one to treat those things in life that were important and good with disdain or contempt. This book may seem dated to those who have been weaned on the tell all style of Dennis Rodman or anyone from the WWF. It is a true rags to riches story of a young man who is encouraged to develop his athletic talent and is mentored by some of the greatest talents in football. It features the all time greatest Super Bowl victory of all time, Super Bowl III with the pregame boast of a youthful quaterback. The excesses of the time, which were going to destroy football, seem so tame, compared with the wretched excesses of today. I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow is my all time favorite sports biography because it captures the rolicking personality of its writer and the time . I only wish I stil had my collection of Joe Namath posters.

If you're looking for serious assistance on getting into one of the most selective programs in the world, this is not the right book. The author is obviously quite taken with his school, but I could have done without the dissertation on the drawbacks of student housing and more detailed information on the admissions process. "Step 1...Step 2..." may have been too simplistic an approach but this book does not offer any insight at all. Instead, it offers the words of a large group of rather egotistical, self-congratulatory Harvard law students who, according to them, all knew without a doubt they were going to be admitted because of their fabulous grades. I already knew grades were important. I was looking for some other information and it was not in this book.

You're going to be attracted to this book no matter what I tell you. You'll buy it because you want to see what your competition is, you want to know if you're "up there" with the rest of them. This book will do nothing but introduce doubt for you. This book is filled with people who got 4.5 and above GPAs and LSAT scores of 170 and better. You already know from looking at Harvard's statistics that these are the scores you need to get in, so why do you need this book to reinforce the idea? The experiences of the people in this book are so varied that it really doesn't help to read them. All it really tells you is that Harvard looks for a diverse group of students who all scored well on the LSAT and did very well in college. This is nothing that you don't already know. Personally, I think most people in the book were annoying. They are the type who are so proud of themselves that they decided to broadcast their scores and experiences to the public in a book. It's an advertisement for egomaniacs. If you're applying to law school right now, you can't go back in time and change your GPA or college activities. You can only concentrate on you LSAT scores. Save your money and buy some LSAT review books or take a Kaplan course. (I give it two stars instead of one b/c it might help someone who is still in college. You can read this and see that you have to work damn hard in school and get good grades to get into Harvard law school).

Willie J. Epps writes a book worthy of a Harvard Law Graduate. Few books wrap up the difficult process of law school admission much less Harvard Law School Admission in an understandable. and interesting form. Epps has conversations with the HLS dean of admissions and successful Harvard Law candidates. This books also includes the results of a survey containing the undergraduate and pre-law school history of 50 law school students. The book shouldn't be pegged as exclusively for Harvard Law School applicants; similar methods are used at most top law schools. This one is a page turner!

Poorly organized and inaccurate, this book should not have been brought to print in such a state. Furthermore, for one who respects the constituent dance forms of this music, I was particularly appalled by the confusing and misinformed section on dance. We do need more well-researched, english language resources on this subject--this unfortunately cannot be defined as such.

It is hard to imagine that "Hall of Famer" Willie Colon, who wrote the foreword to this book, actually read it and gave it an endorsement. He writes, "...this book has helped put a face on some of my heroes". What Mr. Colon should have written was that this book has helped to distort the truth and put a mask on some of his heroes.

Musica is a book full of misinformation. Some examples:

Musician turned dance promoter Federico Pagani was not italian, he was Puertorican. Chick Webb did not die in 1932, he died on June 6, 1939. "Hall of Famer" Mario Bauza and Dizzy Gillespie did not move together into Cab Calloway's orchestra, nor did they played with Calloway in 1932. It was in 1938 that Bauza joined Calloway's band. Pretending to be sick, and without warning to Calloway, he sent Gillespie to play in his place...that is how the great Gillespie got into Calloway's band.

On page 41 a huge blunder is committed. Here it is stated that "Hall of Famer" Maria Teresa Vera was the first Cuban woman on record. Her suppose debut recording was in New York with Sexteto Habanero in 1918. Nothing could be further from the truth. The facts are that the first Cuban singer on record was "Hall of Famer" Rosalia "Chalia" Herrera Diaz. Not only was she the first singer of Latin origen on record, she is also the very first to record a "habanera". She manages to do all this with the famous "Habanera Tu" in New York in 1901!

I doubt very much that Maria Teresa Vera did any recordings with the Sexteto Habanero in 1918...first, this is the year in which the Sexteto Habanero was formed and secondly, those who have done their research indicate that the Sexteto Habanero's first recording was realized on October 29, 1925 with a tune titled "Maldita Timidez"...Maria Teresa Vera was not part of this recording. However, Maria Teresa Vera was probably the first female to direct a group in Cuba and probably in South America. She did this with the famous Sexteto Occidente that did recordings for Columbia Records around 1925 in New York. She also recorded for the Brunswick and Odeon labels. She later sold the group to "Hall of Famer" Ignacio Pineiro who renamed the group Sexteto Nacional.

The book goes on and on with countless errors. It is a shame, Because Sue Steward is a very good writer and the book has a great colorful layout, with dozens of great photos. It also has a good amount of solid information. But how is the reader suppose to decipher fact from fiction? You can see the confusion by the reviews written on this book. People who have no knowledge about the history of Latin music gave this book good reviews...they assumed everything was true and they enjoyed and believed that its content was accurate. That's the sad part of this book...people are going to read it and be persuaded that it is accurate and perpetuate the misinformation on to others.

I do believe that all is not lost...perhaps Sue Steward would take the responsible high-road and issue a revised accurate edition. Careful and meticulous research can make this book a winner. In the meantime I would hope that Sue Steward does not attempt to produce a television program based on the information in this book...that would be a great diservice to those who contributed so much to this great music and to those who work so hard at researching the truth.

Wow. Weighing in at a mere 176 pages, this snappy little volume sure packs a wallop! This is the Cuban music equivalent of McGowan & Pessanha's "Brazilian Sound," but with more dynamic layout, and exceptionally precise writing. "Musica!" features several geographically-centered chapters, exploring salsa traditions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Columbia and, of course, the explosion of modern salsa in New York and Miami. Brief overviews of the style's spread into Europe and Africa, and a look at modern salsa-pop crossovers. Each chapter features a central narrative, along with numerous sidebars that at first might seem unwieldy and distracting, but are tremendously informative and fun. These include profiles of artists ranging from the superstars to the obscure and the forgotten -- Tito Puente, Ruben Blades and Celia Cruz share the dance floor along with The Mambo Aces, Jesus Colon, and Maria Teresa Vera. The writing is remarkably compact and informative. Steward is especially effective at describing musical concepts and performance techniques, details that other writers often flounder over while trying to explain. The historical photographs, engravings and album reproductions are also illuminating and gorgeous-- laid out in crazy-quilt fashion, the colorful artwork alone makes this book a must for latin music fans. There are parts of this book which felt too short, but as an easily-assimilated guide to the music of four continents, this is pretty hard to beat. Highly recommended!

First of all, there was no Willie Lynch.The whole "Willie Lynch" business comes from a chain letter that spread throughout the Black community in 1993, which appears to have been based on a segment from a 1935 fictional Russian novel entitled "The Black Consul" by Anatoli Vinogradov that dealt with Napoleon's supposed plans to divide and conquer the Haitians during the Haitian Revolution. This is pure pseudo-history that has nothing more than emotional appeal for African-Americans and is a prime example of why Black scholars should get out of their ivory towers and teach the masses the truth about our history.

The truth about the effect of slavery on Black Americans can be found in slave narratives like "The Narrative of Frederick Douglass" and Kenneth Stampp's "The Peculiar Insitution." Leave this Willie Lynch mess to the street-corner crackpots.

Everyone claiming to be black in America these days, should have at least one copy of Laleh's book on their shelf and in their minds and hearts? It was riveting to me personally, as a bi-racial(Black American),...It elevated me intellectually, to a level that reminded me of the messages from our brothers...James Baldwin, Richard Wright and Cornell West, just to mention a few literary titans whose skin color was black. Most of us, black-folkes have experienced the degredation, and genocidal tendencies alluded to in your book, "How To Kill Your Willie Lynch!" But without a doubt, your book has once again awaken me to the blackness in our creation and to our dangerous curiosity to assimilate towards the norm,...to lay bare our inner-souls. Yes! I found your book to very informative and yet, entertaining...Please continue to bless us all with your thoughts and recollections.

Darkmandca

I couldn't agree more of the frame of mind the black society has against one another. But if we as Afro-Americans really want other Afro-Americans to be knowledgable of our past to enhance our future, why is Lawanda Staten selling the material when she can get sponsor(s)such as, NAACP, the Coalition, etc.? All the finance they have, they can to promote this knowledge that the Afro-Americans needs in order to STOP? My answer, Lawanda has no concern but of her own and ignorance of the Black minds is her advantage to continue the Willie Lynch example. Like the rest of the so called Black Leaders and Organizations we have today. Their pockets get rich and the Afro-Americans who want to really make a difference can't because they have no finance, trust, and support to have a better life for their family and families to come. I am a Afro-American and my worst enemy is Black people and I don't think Black people will ever trust another Black person because of this very same reason Lawanda. I gave it 3 stars because it's the truth, but what can we do when our leaders use Willie Lynch Letter to take advantage of the weak to gain a profit?